Exploring the History, Literature, and Culture of the Tar Heel State

‘The natural habitat of the North Carolina Babbitt’

“Industrial progress in North Carolina is primarily of the Piedmont. Cotton and tobacco factories dot this section, and from it comes most of the new noise.

“The Piedmont is the natural habitat of the North Carolina Babbitt. Over it the boosters swarm.

“But from the point of view of charm, the Piedmont is the state’s most barren region. It is loud-mouthed and bustling, and only too much like a displaced section of the Middle West. Its aim is to become indistinguishable from Michigan. God willing, that high aspiration will probably be achieved within the next 10 years.”

– From “North Carolina” by Raleigh newspaperwoman Nell Battle Lewis in the American Mercury (May 1926)